Where am I?

This morning I had gentle prodding of the transition to come as I enjoyed my first American hotel buffet in a long while.  Around me were Japanese visitors, and in addition to the expected eggs, sausage, bananas and cereal on the counter, there was a cooker filled with steamed rice.  I keep asking myself where I am.

I read and slept on the plane, thinking about the economy and life in America.  The plane rolled out above San Francisco's spacious city streets and about 17 hours later I was hovering over Osaka, trying to decipher the details in the carpet of houses and buildings at dusk.  In these returning hours to Japan I once again find myself making comparisons and wondering if they are true.  What is the essence of the difference?  Is there any?  Is it in the way people move, or the way they focus, or how they eat?  Is it the price that one pays for things, or the speed at which one enjoys them?

I'm very tired, in that state of spinning pre-sleep jetlag where the world seems to make sense only because I'm crazy.  And with that, I'll leave two pictures from the Japanese airport today.  Where am I?

what is this saying?

Japanese bagels (shrimp, salmon....) and sandwiches (bottom row)